We are merging with robots. That’s a good thing.

These are the algorithms that talk with us, that watch us, that trade for us, that select dates for us, that suggest what we might buy, sell, or wear. They are the algorithms that pool information about us, and that will slowly permeate the full range of human-built environments, from bridges to roads to cities and more minor intelligent devices. These are not yet intelligences like our own. But some of their greatest potential lies in the ways we humans might cooperate with them to form new hybrid systems that deliver the best of each.